![]() ![]() The number of phantom brewers is growing, and Mikkel, who got into the game in 2006, views this with a mixture of magnanimity and trendsetter’s pride. In any given year, a typical craft brewery produces maybe 20 different beers. And because he has so little overhead, Mikkel doesn’t have to worry about appealing to mass tastes. As a phantom, Mikkel can source unwashed seaweed from the western fjords of Iceland, yuzu from Japan and avocado leaves from Mexico while leaving someone like Naudts to deal with the nitty-gritty of putting such ingredients into a beer someone might actually drink. His creations are adored not only on aficionado websites but also by chefs at Michelin-starred restaurants like Noma, in Copenhagen, and El Celler de Can Roca, in Girona, Spain, each of which enlisted him to design beers for their menus. This way of working is known as “phantom brewing” or “gypsy brewing,” and Mikkel is one of its best-known practitioners. and the first time he tastes his own beer is usually when the brewer sends him a shipment and an invoice. ![]() Mikkel draws up detailed instructions for these fabricators to follow - specifying malt quantity to the milligram, mash schedule to the minute, bitterness to the I.B.U. A typical Mikkeller beer originates in his brain as a far-fetched question: What quality of fattiness would a beer obtain if you sprinkled popcorn into the mash? What would happen if you dumped in a load of mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns during the brewing? How much fresh seaweed would lend a beer the right umami jolt? He then finds his answers by proxy, outsourcing the actual brewing to facilities, like de Proef, owned and operated by other people. ![]() Unlike most brewers, Mikkel doesn’t own a brewery. They were specimens of a strain called Polaris, developed by growers in Germany, which Mikkel had asked de Proef’s proprietor, Dirk Naudts, to purchase for use in a new Mikkeller beer. “That’s nice,” Mikkel said, crumbling a few pellets between his fingers and nodding approvingly at the sticky green smear they deposited on his thumb. The hops had been processed into unctuous pellets that resembled cat food, and they released a ripe botanical stink heavy on lemon grass and cannabis. It was a rainy February afternoon, and Mikkel, who makes some of the world’s most inventive beer, was visiting de Proef, a Belgian brewery in the town of Lochristi. It now also houses multiplex Empire Stores, which has its own food hall (Time Out Market), as well as a SoHo House (aka DUMBO House).Mikkel Borg Bjergso, a 38-year-old former high-school science teacher who runs the Danish brewery Mikkeller, stuck his face into a bag of hops and inhaled deeply. With it came a flurry of other developments, resulting in the history-meets-modern-day character that distinguishes this thriving area. Not only did one of Brooklyn’s most ambitious waterfront revitalizations take place here, but DUMBO has also become a magnet for tech startups, most notably Etsy, which is headquartered at the former Watertower printing site. Today, the pioneering spirit lives on in various forms. Manufacturing slowed after the Great Depression, and the area didn’t recover until the 1970s, when a wave of artists moved in, inspiring developers to reconsider the East River-adjacent neighborhood. ![]() The historic buildings that now house loft apartments and art galleries were factories that produced everything from cardboard boxes to Brillo pads during their manufacturing heyday in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (both of which were actually invented in DUMBO). Prior to becoming a tourist destination, the neighborhood was an industrial hub. This section of Brooklyn, however, was not always as charming as it is now. DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is known for its spectacular views of Manhattan, world-class waterfront park, thriving art and food scenes, and what may be NYC’s most Instagrammable hot spot: the intersection of Washington Street and Water Street with the Manhattan Bridge in the background. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |